The Long Ride

Been a while since I took a ride on the train alone, something I was forced via circumstance to do this morning. I guess it's these little mundane tasks that many of us hardly give a second thought that can seem so interesting once you detach yourself from them.

Stepping through the automated doors, the first thing I noticed, to my dismay, was the number of poor souls trapped in the carriage, their fate soon to be shared by yours truly. Finding myself a reasonably miniscule portoin of dusty floor, I attempted in vain to wrestle a book from my sling bag in the hope that some light reading would pass the time on the train.

First lesson learnt today: When people are packed so closely that they can probably overhear you thinking, one cannot remove a book from a bag unless everyone makes a conscious effort to give you the room to do so. Of course, knowing the general helpful nature of your average Singaporean, I would have been better off attempting to outrun the damn train.

I contented myself, instead, with listening to my iPod, after a few carefully-planned minutes of untangling the wires that connected the earphones to its scratched silver body. As Never Let You Go by Third Eye Blind echoed against my skull, I started to look around at my fellow commuters.

Before I go into detail, I will make one small confession. I don't actually check out girls, but I do notice, - because I am, among several things, male and not blind - if there are females in the vicinity whom I would not classify as having fallen through the ugly tree. That being said, I didn't find any this morning. But no worries, I was still happy because Man Utd beat Arsenal.

Pregnant lady to my left, thankfully without shopping bags. Standing, looking hopefully and mournfully at the seated youth before her. He looked slightly younger than me, with streaks of gold and yellow punctuating his floppy hair, and even more outlandish tones crawling over his cell phone. You all know the type. I could hear the techno music over the drone of the train. On my right, an Indian man who seemed particularly pungent this morning, an issue that was not helped by the fact he had both arms extended overhead to grasp the metal bar-pole-thing like his life depended on it. Behind me, a middle-aged Chinese aunty. I expected trouble from her, and she duly obliged a few stops later when she politely shoved my bag out of her way with her bags of groceries.

A few more sorry individuals entered our little world a short while later; among them, a youngish-looking man who was dressed to attend a business meeting, but was playing something that looked like Puzzle Bubble on his PSP. I never understood the public's sudden fascination with that thing. I mean, I love playing games, though I never owned a PSP myself. But when it was first released, it wasn't the overwhelming social phenomenon that some had predicted, and kinda died down. But in recent months, it seems everyone and their Ah Lian girlfriend are busy mashing the little buttons on their pink mini-consoles.

I spent the rest of the train ride going over how I was supposed to fabricate two days' worth of interviews and responses, as well as listening to Mercy Drive, Linkin Park, Funeral For a Friend and Michelle Branch, before arriving in school and all but bumping into Princess Tongue-Stud herself, Kania.

The rest of the day went well, hopefully it sets the tone for the rest of the week.